Focus Question:

The year is 2010. The National Weather Service has studied the last decade's rainfall rates and the storm patterns over the Atlantic Ocean and has produced an alarming forecast: over the next 5 years, the Everglades- region will experience a 30-percent- decrease in the amount of rainfall it receives. But lack of rainfall is not the only challenge the Everglades faces. During the last century, the Everglades has been profoundly changed by increasing urban and agricultural activity. Humans have drained the wetland and created a complex canal and levee system, thus causing drastic changes in the ecosystem: shrinking populations of wading birds and the collapse of alligators' nesting activities.

How will your group respond to this serious decrease in rainfall? Create an action plan that will reduce the damage the long period of dry weather will cause to human and ecological interests.

Population Growth

County

1980

1990

Net Change in Number

Net Change in Percent

Broward

1,018,257

1,255,488

+237,231

+23.3

Dade

1,625,509

1,937,094

+311,585

+19.2

Palm Beach

576,758

863,518

+286,760

+49.7

Which county gained the most people between 1980 and 1990? Which county gained the largest percentage of growth during that period?

Projected Range of Public Supply Water Use Per Day
(in millions of gallons)

County

2000

2010

2020

Broward

257.4

285.4

316.2

Dade

395.8

425.5

471.4

Palm Beach

253.1

305.0

338.0

Which county has the slowest rate of projected use of public water? (To answer this question, subtract the figure for 200 from the figure for 2020.)

Total Freshwater Withdrawn Per Day
(in millions of gallons)

County

1965

1970

1980

1990

Broward

173.13

184.35

235.58

266.53

Dade

287.80

276.47

440.45

490.55

Palm Beach

414.50

504.38

752.71

996.84

Palm Beach County's use of freshwater more than doubled between 1965 and 1990. Did Plam Beach County's population grow at about the same rate?